Walmart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., d.b.a. Walmart , is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and warehouse stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. It has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, under a total 71 banners. The company operates under the Walmart name in the US and Puerto Rico. It operates in Mexico as Walmart de M’xico y Centroam’rica, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. It also owns and operates the Sam’s Club retail warehouses. Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and the largest retailer in the world. Walmart is a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own over 50 percent of Walmart through their holding company, Walton Enterprises. It is also one of the world’s most valuable companies by market value, and is also the largest grocery retailer in the US. In 2009, it generated 51 percent of its US$258 billion (equivalent to $ in ) sales in the US from its grocery business. The company was publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company rose from a regional to a national giant. By 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the US and by October 1989, it had become the largest in terms of revenue. Geographically limited to the South and lower Midwest up to the mid 1980s, by the early 1990s the company’s presence spanned coast to coast – Sam’s Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989 and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster on July 28, 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania was opened in October 1990, bringing the main store into the Northeast. Walmart’s investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, whereas ventures in Germany and South Korea were unsuccessful.